sysdm.cpl - control panel - gpedit.msc disabled

[lenny]

Hello, amateur question here if I may, I'm trying to repair an XP pro
installation on a hand me down laptop. (Dell Latitude C600/C500 with
NTFS).
It's presently disabled by tons of installed nonsense software,
spyware and virus' I'd like to remove but even when I'm logged on as
Administrator the control panel and sysdm.cpl are disabled (hour glass
appears for half a second and then disappears- no error message) and
gpedit.msc doesn't work. (snapin failed to initialize).
I've tried promoting the user account that occurs on the welcome
screen with a boot cd but that makes no difference either. It's no
different in safe mode.
This came from a 13 year old girl so maybe everything's disabled for a
reason. It's going to a 12 year old if that makes any difference.
I've never had much truck with user accounts or restricted permissions
so with regard to security and access is this thing broken or working
perfectly? If I re-install xp and ms office is there a guide to doing
this with younger users in mind? Thank you.

[Leonard Grey]

Don't waste your time any longer. The first thing you do with a
new-to-you computer is to erase the hard disk and reinstall the
software. That's the only way to know for sure that the computer is free
of malware and configuration errors.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare Humanum Est

lenny wrote:
> Hello, amateur question here if I may, I'm trying to repair an XP pro
> installation on a hand me down laptop. (Dell Latitude C600/C500 with
> NTFS).
> It's presently disabled by tons of installed nonsense software,
> spyware and virus' I'd like to remove but even when I'm logged on as
> Administrator the control panel and sysdm.cpl are disabled (hour glass
> appears for half a second and then disappears- no error message) and
> gpedit.msc doesn't work. (snapin failed to initialize).
> I've tried promoting the user account that occurs on the welcome
> screen with a boot cd but that makes no difference either. It's no
> different in safe mode.
> This came from a 13 year old girl so maybe everything's disabled for a
> reason. It's going to a 12 year old if that makes any difference.
> I've never had much truck with user accounts or restricted permissions
> so with regard to security and access is this thing broken or working
> perfectly? If I re-install xp and ms office is there a guide to doing
> this with younger users in mind? Thank you.

[Malke]

lenny wrote:

> Hello, amateur question here if I may, I'm trying to repair an XP pro
> installation on a hand me down laptop. (Dell Latitude C600/C500 with
> NTFS).
> It's presently disabled by tons of installed nonsense software,
> spyware and virus' I'd like to remove but even when I'm logged on as
> Administrator the control panel and sysdm.cpl are disabled (hour glass
> appears for half a second and then disappears- no error message) and
> gpedit.msc doesn't work. (snapin failed to initialize).
> I've tried promoting the user account that occurs on the welcome
> screen with a boot cd but that makes no difference either. It's no
> different in safe mode.
> This came from a 13 year old girl so maybe everything's disabled for a
> reason. It's going to a 12 year old if that makes any difference.
> I've never had much truck with user accounts or restricted permissions
> so with regard to security and access is this thing broken or working
> perfectly? If I re-install xp and ms office is there a guide to doing
> this with younger users in mind? Thank you.

What Leonard said.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...alling_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Unless you are the mother, don't worry about configuring the computer for a
12-year-old. Just create a user account with administrative privileges and
give it a strong password. Create a Limited user account for the kid. Let
the child's parents worry about how they want to handle policing computer
use. If you *are* the child's mother, then here are some useful links and
general security information:

*****
Safe Hex:
http://www.getsafeonline.org/
https://www.mysecurecyberspace.com/
http://www.getnetwise.org/
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron.../05/82584.aspx - MVP
Harry Waldron - The Family PC - How to stay safe on the Internet
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/staying-safe.pdf
*****
Any computer running any operating system can be accessed by someone with 1)
physical access; 2) time; 3) skill; 4) tools. There are a few things you
can do to make it a bit harder though:

1. Set a password in the BIOS that must be entered before booting the
operating system. Also set the Supervisor password in the BIOS so BIOS
Setup can't be entered without it.

2. From the BIOS, change the boot order to hard drive first.

3. Set strong passwords on all accounts, including the built-in
Administrator account in XP (it is disabled by default in Vista).

4. If you leave your own account logged in, use the Windows Key + L to lock
the computer (and/or set the screensaver/power saving) when you step away
from the computer and require a password to resume.

5. Make other users Limited accounts in XP Home, regular user accounts in XP
Pro. All users should be on a Standard account in Vista with an
Administrator account only used for elevation purposes.
*****

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ